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Hello CKtG, Been stacking the site and forums for a month now and well looking for some help.

I am a 21 year old male with above average hand size and have worked in professional kitchens for 5 years, over that time I was able to try some knives out here and there and never needed my own set.

But over time I started to see the benefit of using your own knives at work and as I live with my girlfriend we don't own any real knives for the kitchen (Been cutting stuff with a 15$ knife at home). And so i started to look for knives I can use at work and home So.

1. Are you right handed? Yes

2. What type of knife are you interested in (gyuto, nakiri etc..)

At the moment I own a Tojiro Shirogami ITK 240mm Wa-Gyuto as well as a Tojiro Shirogami ITK 150mm Petty I have had both for 2 weeks as they seemed like good knives to start with, and I do like the gyuto (though it seems very reactive) the petty I haven't used much. As I mostly do vegetables at work the gyuto works well, though I am also considering a nakiri for heavier vegetables. I would also like a knife for breaking up fish, chickens, meat.

Also maybe 1 laser style knife for fun.

3. What size knife are you looking for?

I find the 240mm gyuto to be rather nice in length though a 7inch knife may be nice to have as well.

4. Do you prefer carbon or stainless steel?

I spent most of my time in a kitchen working with stainless and got the 2 white carbon knives for fun, i wouldn't mind getting some more carbon but i think i need 1-2 stainless.

5. Do you prefer a western handle or a Japanese handle?

Mostly indifferent though I guess the Japanese style handles are a bit better for pinch holding.

6. How much did you want to spend?

I plan to purchase my set over time and looking at around 6-8 months to acquire them, so around 800$ total though this is flexible up to 1200.

7. Do you know how to sharpen?

I have spent most of my time using a rod to sharpen, though I have worked with wet stones a over time but not enough to be comfortable doing it but I do plan on picking up some stones for home use and most likely use a rod or other contraption when at work.

I don`t mind if you guys want to split the money into 2 groups, 1 set for work and 1 set for home, there is a few companies I have been looking at like the Masakage knives.

Thank you for your help.

kevvy

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:47 am

Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:20 amPosts: 6

Not sure how to edit my post but

I live in Ottawa, Canada for prices so Canadian prices if possible (though US works normally as well)

CanadianMan

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:24 pm

Joined: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:33 pmPosts: 120

so how man knives are you looking for? from what I understand you are looking for a nakiri, a boning knife or honesuki, a laser style knife, and a 7 inch gyuto, also 1-2 of them have to be stainless. do you know which styles of knife you would prefer to be stainless?

erikz

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:07 pm

Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2013 5:53 pmPosts: 56

Get yourself a Honesuki for breaking up small game and chicken, and the Nakiri you mentioned yourself. Tojiro has a Nakiri in it's ITK range. They do have a Honesuki as well, only in a different range (DP).

taz575

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 3:53 pm

Forum Moderator

Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:13 pmPosts: 3057Location: CT

Artifex Honesuki (chicken, poultry), Artifex Boning knife (meats and normal boning tasks), Kohetsu AS Nakiri when they arrive, Kohetsu 240mm as your laser. The Artifex are full stainless with western handles (handles feel good on these two and the western style may give a little more control with boning/breaking down tasks), and the Kohetsu are AS carbon clad in stainless and are lasers with Wa handles. Cost is $465 for these 4 knives.

I would also get a set of stones, too and learn to free hand sharpen. It's not that bad and strangely relaxing/calming to do. There are lots of excellent videos out there to help you though the process.

Going from the Rika 5K to a strop gives an awesome, bitey edge that will most likely be all you need. If you want to go to a finer stone, I would look at a Japanese Natural stone since it will give refinement, but still have some nice tooth to it.One of my favorite Japanese Natural finishing stones:http://www.chefknivestogo.com/yaas.html

Go to "User Control Panel" in the top left corner of page, then to "Board Preferences" and change "Language" to "British English". An edit button will show in the top left corner of your post. You can only edit for a set period of time then post becomes permanent.

_________________If at first you don't succeed, pay someone that knows what they're doing.

kevvy

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:40 pm

Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:20 amPosts: 6

CanadianMan <> Mostly looking for 4-5 knives total in the end. And I would like the boning knife and honesuki to be stainless if possible, while the other knives can be either.

taz575 <> Thank you for the recommendations, the artifex ones seem very interesting and are what i am looking for. The Kohetsu nakari i can't seem to find much information on it though that isn't a big deal as i will most likely be picking up the honesuku and the boning knife first.

As for sharpening, it may be a stupid question but do I need to worry about using different types of steels with the same stone?

Jeff B <> Thank you

Again thank you all for your help.

SteveG

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:27 pm

Forum Moderator

Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:00 pmPosts: 3002

Kevvy - those stones should work well for most steels - definitely the ones you are considering. The AEB-L in the Artifex line sharpens easily on a wide variety of stones, as does the Aogami Super in the Kohetsu line.

+ 1 on this advice. The Latte, Ume, Rika would be a great set and add the strop set, that's all you need to sharpen your knives to a really high degree of sharpness - and I mean stupid sharp.

Learning to sharpen well is IMO more key to having and keeping sharp knives that the knives themselves.

The Idahone fine ceramic sharpening rod is a great product for touchups, but if you sharpen these great Japanese knives to a full 5K Rika edge refinement, you might find that stropping is a better method to keep that refined edge in good condition for as long as possible.

Stropping is easy and quick and is usually more gentle on your knife edges unless you have good technique and a nice, light touch with a honing rod like the Idahone.

I'm 50 and I really wish I would have learned to sharpen when I was 25 or 30. I'm taking these skills and applying them to sharpening everything from kitchen to pocket/hunting knives, hatchets, axes, flat mower blades, reel mower blades, shovels, blender blades, chisels, plane blades - you name it.

taz575

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:54 am

Forum Moderator

Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:13 pmPosts: 3057Location: CT

The Kohetsu 240mm and Nakiri are still in the works, should be arriving at CKTG sometime soon! This is a new line for CKTG; I have the 210mm gyuto and it's an awesome knife and performs very well.

Yeah, it's OK to sharpen different steels on the same stones!

kevvy

Post subject: Re: Looking for Knives for line work and home use

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:22 am

Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:20 amPosts: 6

Any insight on the Masakage Koishi line of knives? Only thing i have seen is the nakari video.

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